mell

¹ American  

[mel] / mɛl /

verb (used with object)

1. to blend; mix; meld.

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verb (used without object)

1. to meddle; concern oneself.

mell ² American  

[mel] / mɛl /

noun

1. a heavy hammer; mallet.

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verb (used with object)

1. to beat with a mallet; hammer.

Etymology

Origin of mell¹

1250–1300; Middle English mellen < Middle French meller; meddle

Origin of mell²

1250–1300; Middle English, variant of mall hammer < Old French mal, mail < Latin malleus

Example Sentences

Twice each summer 10 horses and riders representing the various “contrade” or districts of the city run pell mell around a temporary clay track.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2018

You saw the morale of our men - everyone was fleeing pell mell.

From Reuters • Dec. 10, 2012

It’s a photo of a real person, for starters, which means it can and likely will be distributed across the Internet pell mell and willy nilly without its disclaimer.

From Salon • May 24, 2012

Hams would be jerked out of the smokehouse, and holes would be dug and everything thrown in pell mell.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now it is eighty thousand and leaping pell mell on in a mathematical progression—a hundred thousand in three years and perhaps two hundred thousand in ten, with no end in sight.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck